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I have one younger sibling, a brother. He is not quite two years younger than me, but we were three years apart in school (I am young for my class and he old for his). Because of this, he was a freshman in high school when I was a Senior. We didn’t get along very well growing up.

We didn’t get along because he and I are completely the opposite. In every way imaginable. But one of the biggest reasons we didn’t get along so well is because I teased and picked on him pretty much nonstop growing up. I don’t even know why I did it either. I guess it just seemed like a fun thing to do when I was younger.

Fast forward in life back to present day. My son is my copy. Looks like me, loves sports like me, awesome student and academic like me. Etc. In fact, people who know us well say that they think I was cloned to get him. We’re that ridiculously similar.

He also teases his younger siblings like I used to do. Not the baby…when you’re 1 and as cute as she is, it’s a different story. But his twin sisters that are a bit short of four years younger than him…they get it from him all the time. In lots of different ways. And now, they are learning from him too and trying to dish it back at him. It seems like very day is a constant battle of he said/she said and who can get under the other’s skin the most.

I don’t want my role as a parent to always be the referee. One kid gets fed up with the teasing and tattles on the teaser. Another kid won’t share the video game time. This kid runs and sits down in another kids place on the couch when they got up for a second. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I wish it was different, but is it really that bad? I was the teaser growing up, picking on my younger brother all the time. Neither of us are perfect, but we turned out OK in spite of it. So I’m curious to hear what some of you think:

Are you a parent with kids or have siblings who experienced this dynamic growing up? Is the teasing and picking on siblings just part of the natural progression of childhood and growing up? Does it just have to be this way for a while and then they grow out of it? I struggle with this and want things to be different, but am not sure it’s not just part of growing up in a family with four children…and has to be this way for a while.